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The NBA can be a cutthroat business where it’s imperative to look out for your own interest above all else and the Toronto Raptors made a bold statement to that effect Tuesday.

By making an offer of a three-year contact worth close to $20 million (all figures U.S.) for restricted free agent swingman Landry Fields of the New York Knicks, the Raptors have potentially blocked the Knicks from the legitimate pursuit of Steve Nash and moved to shore up a deficiency in their own roster.

There were reports the Suns had coveted Fields in a sign-and-trade deal with the Knicks for Nash; if the Knicks match the offer for Fields, league rules forbid them from putting him in a sign-and-trade deal.

By back-loading the contact under new league rules — league sources say it breaks down to about $5 million, $5 million, $9 million over the three years — it would put the Knicks far into a more punitive tax situation in the third year, making it less likely they match the offer.

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There is, of course, a chance that Fields will not sign the offer sheet because nothing in the NBA can be committed to paper until July 11 but the Raptors are taking Fields and his agent as men of their word. Having been burned once by John Salmons, another free agent who said he’d sign with Toronto only to renege on his commitment, the Raptors have first-hand knowledge of a player and his agent going back on their word.

And there is also a chance the Suns and Knicks could work out some other sign-and-trade deal involving Nash but there’s not a lot on the New York roster that’s too attractive and available.

How this impacts Nash is impossible to say and likely not a factor.

He is still weighing offers from Toronto and New York and league sources expect him to hear from the Dallas Mavericks. There is no resolution seen in the immediate future.

Fields, 24, is no bum and has been linked to the Raptors, at least quietly, since before the league’s free agency period began on Sunday.

He is coming off a bad second season in New York — he shot 26 per cent from three-point range and a miserable 56 per cent from the free throw line — but the Raptors have paid scant attention to those numbers given the system Fields played under and the teammates he played with.

They feel in a more free-flowing, ball-moving offence — precisely what New York did not run with Carmelo Anthony for most of last season — that Fields can thrive. The Stanford graduate shot 39 per cent from three-point range, 50 per cent from the field and 77 per cent from the free throw line as a rookie.

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He’s not as bad as he was last year or as good as he was early in his rookie season but his offensive production, coupled with tenacious defence, should make him a favourite of coach Dwane Casey. And since Toronto’s small forwards right now are James Johnson and Linas Kleiza, neither of whom has ever set the NBA on fire, Fields can’t hurt.

The Fields offer sheet is also the first concrete move the Raptors have made since NBA free agency began. They still have work to do — they may need to add a backup point guard depending on what happens with Nash, Jose Calderon and restricted free agent Jerryd Bayless — and they may want a fallback position in case the Knicks match the Fields offer.

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